Harischandragad

Type: Trek
Base Village:
Where: 160 KMs (200kms via Sagmner-Akole) from Pune 
Route Taken: Pune-Sagmner-Akole-Harishchandragad
Time visited: July 2013
Time to climb: 3 hrs.
Difficulty Grade: 2  Endurance: 2
How to reach: Travel to Akole Via Sagmner. Its an 1.5 hrs drive/30 kms from there.
Food/Water:  Lunch, dinner and snacks are also available at the top.


Trek routes

1. Tolar Khind Route:  From Pune go to Alephata (100 kms) kms from Pune. From Alephata take road to Otur and then Khireshwar, which is base village. This will probably take 4-5 hours.
2. Rajur- Pachanai: From pune reach Akole via Sagmner. Then take road to Rajur and drive further down few kms to reach Pachnai. This is easy route with less rocky patches and should be around 3 hrs climb.

History as available on internet: 
The fort is said to have been in 6th century, during the rule of Kalchuri dynasty. Remnants of Microlithic man have been discovered here. The various Puranas (ancient scriptures) like Matsyapurana, Agnipurana and Skandapurana include many references about Harishchandragad.. 

For Harishchandragad you would need a stay if you are travelling from Pune. What we did was start on Friday evening after office. We reached Akole at around 10.30pm where one of our friends had his house.  In the morning we had pohe at his house and started for the fort at around 7AM. 

Akole is small town and famous for historic Shiv temple and Agastya Ashram. The Ashram has tranquil surroundings and situated just across the river.

The road to fort is midst the green hills on the way to Bhandadara dam.

There as diversion and you have to keep left. A roughly 1.5 drive and you reach at the base of the fort via Rajur to Pacnai village. There a car parking available and guide too with a rate of Rs 300/.

The weather was beautiful and one could see hundreds of waterfalls gushing down. A 10 minute walk led to the base of the fort. An old board declared that this was protected Jungle.

Waterfall on the way. The scene was beautiful, with river-streams flowing merrily and rice farms soaked in heavy rains.

The climb was a pleasant walk through jungles, flowing streams and under waterfalls,

Harishchandreshwar Temple
This temple gives insight of fine carving sculptures that could have prevailed during those times. The river Mangal Ganga is said to originate from one of the tanks located close to the temple. 

Carvings on the temple.

Kedareshwar Cave
This and old rock-cut cave and famous for half pillar standing from ceiling. The Shivlinga is surrounded by waist-deep ice cold water.

Saptatirtha Pushkarni
To the east of the temple is a well-built lake called “Saptatirtha with temple like structure around.

The major attraction of Harishchandragad is Kokan Kada but unfortunately there so much fog we could barely see. We decided not to venture that side. Taramati and Rohidas , the two peaks a top Harishchandragad, are also worth visiting as they offer beautiful views of the sahyadri ranges but again we dropped that idea too due to fog.

Hearty hot meal at the topmof the fort made our day.

We reached safely back by 4PM. And drove back to Pune by 11PM.